For Journalists
AP encourages all news organizations to fight for freedom of information.

Getting answers is the essential work of a free press in a free society. As the trend toward government secrecy trickles down to the smallest town office and police department, the need for a free press and for telling the whole story has never been stronger.

Hear from Tom Curley.

As part of its news mission, AP works in three ways to assure that journalists have access to events, proceedings and information.

1. We assert our rights under federal and state constitutions and FOI laws to obtain access to news. Often we go to court to enforce those rights.

AP journalists regularly file applications for disclosure of documents covered by FOI laws. When applications are unlawfully denied, we appeal, and in some cases we sue to enforce our legal rights.

AP leads or joins efforts by news organizations to oppose the unlawful sealing of court proceedings, evidence, transcripts and court documents. Where AP isn’t part of the original effort, we often join “friend of the court” briefs in support of access efforts.

2. We monitor compliance by government agencies and officials with FOI laws and report infractions and shortcomings.

Where AP stories include information obtained by application under FOI laws, or where information for the story should have been disclosed under FOI laws but was not, AP reports this as part of the story.

AP participates in, and often leads, FOI Audit projects in which official compliance with FOI laws is systematically tested and the results reported in a package of stories published statewide.

3. We defend the statutory and constitutional rights of journalists to do their work free of government interference or intrusion.

AP opposes any subpoena demand for evidence that goes beyond material actually published or otherwise represents an unreasonable burden or intrusion on news operations.
AP vigorously protects, sometimes with litigation, any action by police or other news agencies in which reporters are unlawfully detained or interfered with, or news materials are seized.